


Save Him

by LamestChild



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dark Doctor (Doctor Who), Doctor Who: Academy Era, Episode AU: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Episode Fix-It: s12e10 The Timeless Children, F/M, M/M, Not Beta Read, POV The Doctor (Doctor Who), The Doctor (Doctor Who) is an Idiot, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 07:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26349580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamestChild/pseuds/LamestChild
Summary: The Master grinned. “Do it then. Become me.”Oh, but the Master wasn’t the one willing to commit double genocide.That’s all the Doctor. She detonates the bomb....And wakes up 4.5 billion years in the past.Or the Doctor gets a do-over.
Relationships: The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This pops into my head, and I decided “What could go wrong.” So I write it. The Doctor gets a do-over.
> 
> I haven’t the faintest clue to describe time travel since this should be impossible in Doctor Who. Will update sporadically but not super long waits. I should do homework.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!

The Master was laughing. Now she thinks about it, he was almost always laughing these days. It was cruel, just like his smile. He just loved it didn’t he? Tearing down her world piece by piece.

He was taunting her. “C’mon Doctor.  _ Do it then. Become me. _ ”

Shame, she wasn’t really listening. She had left him, all those years ago, she had abandoned him. She ran without looking back. He had a right to be mad, a right to feel  _ betrayed. _ He had his revenge, fighting her to the ends of the galaxy. Oh, but he had a limit to how far he would go. 

Then the Time War happened. The Master was the one that ran. The one time she  _ needed  _ him. She was the one who used the Moment. The one fully prepared to commit  _ double  _ genocide to save the universe. He wasn’t there.

Then he came back. No card, no phone call, not even a text. She had been alone for  _ years _ and he had the gall to show up and wreck her life. Not even an ‘I’m sorry I missed the war’. Becoming Prime Minister, getting a  _ wife, _ now it was her turn to feel absolutely  _ betrayed _ . She forgave him, because that was the kind of person she was back then. Pinstripes was so kind, born out of love. Filled with guilt and sadness, constant pleading for the Master to  _ just listen to her. _

  
  


Oh but he couldn’t even offer her a strip of empathy for what she’s done. No, it was all about him. So  _ full _ of himself, and he had the audacity to yell at  _ her  _ for not listening. It was always him and his problems, his  _ drums _ . He complained about his drums, but she couldn’t complain about her silence.

Timelord Vainglorious.

He complained on and on about her human _pets._ She wanted to scream at him. _You don’t know what I’ve been through. You don’t know what I’ve had to do. You abandoned me. You weren’t there so I got someone else_ _to fill the gap_.

Then he died and she burned his body. Waltzed away like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was. It destroyed her on the inside. Her best friend, her half, was dead. But she told them she was fine. Like every Doctor, she told them she was ‘King of Ok’. 

Pinned his feelings on Rose instead of dwelling on  _ him _ . Told them she missed her. She loved Rose, she truly did. But Rose couldn’t understand him like  _ he  _ could. Rose was human, a temporary fix to fill the hole in his hearts. Oh, but it was still love. It broke her hearts to lose her. At least she would never find out who she was replacing. 

He came back by some botched reincarnation. Blond with a good dose of insanity. In the end, he still saved him. She finally decided to move on.

  
  


She let herself love again. She met the wildfire of River Song. It was bitter sweet in so many ways. She saw her die before even knowing her. She would be a temporary fix as well, yet it didn’t stop the Doctor from loving her with all her hearts. She knew she would lose River too in the end.

She let herself enjoy the time with her and for a moment, forgot about him. Until he came back. New and improved in a female form. For the first time, he was trying to repent. Asked for forgiveness, even secretly giving her a companion. Clara, the Master had led Clara to her. She had changed, even just a little. She didn’t want to believe it, how could she? All those years of betrayal and hurt, but she wanted to. Oh course, she wanted to, that hole in her hearts yearned to be whole. The kind of person she was at the time, distrustful, angery, didn’t want to.   
  


Eyebrows wasn’t keen on repentance.   
  


That is until he proved himself... by killing himself. At his very last moments in that incarnation, the Master had stood by her. Despite his previous incarnation’s opinion, he stood by her.

So she cried for him and changed herself for the better. Bubbly, brand new-self, willing to make things work if he ever came back. Only he did, of course by deceiving her. Betraying her kindness and taking advantage of everything she stood for. Just like her tenth incarnation, this one didn’t like second chances.

This very moment in the Matrix Room reminds her of the time she pointed a gun at him. The time before the Master taunted her,  _ to do it. _ That man she was, her tenth regeneration, didn’t have the guts.

Oh but this one did. She wasn’t becoming him. This was all her. No, she was just finishing a job she should have done a long time ago.

Holding the bomb, she detonated it. 

There was a blinding white and she had a vague consciousness of what was happening. She died. At least she  _ assumed _ she did, no regeneration, just dead. 

She expected more pain. 

She opened her eyes. She wasn’t even aware her eyes were closed. The Doctor was lying down, looking up at the sky. The  _ orange  _ sky. With  _ two _ suns.

She was on Gallifrey. 

Sitting up she saw the Citadel. Perfectly fine and totally not destroyed. Nothing was smoking, nope, everything was just as she remembered. Red, orange, and annoyingly  _ there _ .

There was something else nagging her. Something important. She reached down and…  _ oh _ . She was a boy again. Cursing, she stood up, considering that she probably regenerated and the Master is playing an awful joke on her.

She needs information. If the master is anywhere, he’s in the Citadel, probably on a huge throne laughing at her. So she does what she’s been doing her whole life.

  
  


She runs.

  
  


And  _ trips _ . Right before a pond, luckily. Cursing to herself again, she lifts her head and finds her reflection starting back.

Only it isn’t her’s. Not the blond, girlish, face she’s been getting used to.

It’s a face she hasn’t seen in billions of years. She brushes her hair back just in case she’s gone mad. It wouldn’t be a first. The bouncy curls fall back down, clear, blue, uncomfortably old, eyes stare directly at hers. Because they  _ were  _ hers. Emphases on the were.

Only her personality didn’t change back. It was still unmistakably  _ her,  _ insufferable, kind-hearted, very female her.

Someone is calling her. At least someone seems to be shouting in her _direction._ She wasn’t listening, still poking and prodding her face to make sure it was real. It felt so off. Having this face wasn't possible, you can’t de-age someone to the point of dialing back regenerations. She shouldn’t have kept her personality either. It was like being in someone else’s body. It was like time travel, but so _not._ Time travel implies _actually traveling_ _through time._ You can’t just turn the clock back, and _presto_ you’re 4.5 billion years in the past, in your previous self’s body. 

She could hear footsteps now. The shouty someone was shaking her shoulders. So she whips her head around, hands in defense mode, just in case. Finds herself staring at amethyst eyes, hearing a name she hadn’t been called in an eternity.

“Theta!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor channels her inner Slytherin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, I fixed the posting. Here is the real next chapter. The Doctor is going to be using female pronouns cause she still has her female personality. If that makes sense.
> 
> She monologues a lot, sorry. There will be less monologues next chapter.

He was just like she remembered. Soft, black hair and mischievous, amethyst eyes. The glimmer of insanity that would grow tenfold as an adult. The overly decorative uniform robes of the Academy. A kind smile she couldn’t bear, since it reminded her of his cruel one.

Her best  _ friend _ .

Her best  _ enemy. _

Her lover.

Her everything.

_ Oh Koschei. _

It was unmistakably him. The boy before the man. He wasn’t the Master just yet. This Koschei had just looked into the Untempered Schism. His descent into madness had already started. But she could help.

Last time, what  _ she  _ saw made her run. Made her abandon  _ him _ in his time of need. 

Even after the war, she hadn’t believed him. She thought it was only a manifestation. Until she heard it, planted in his head by the Time Lords. By Rassilon. He was beyond help at that point. Of course, she still tried, not that it worked. You can only go so far into madness before the way back disappears. 

  
  


This wouldn’t be like last time. She would get it right. The universe  _ owed  _ her this much. She didn’t care if who they become is fixed. She would be there for him. Fate could go fuck its self. She will have her friend back.

She brought herself back the present. Her current present. Koschei was staring at her with a confused frown. She finally worked up the courage to respond to her friend. “Koschei…”

“Are you alright Thete?” Concerned eyes peered at her. The same eyes that tortured her on the Valiant. The same eyes that cried in the graveyard before she shot him. The same eyes that glimmered in delight on the plane, when she found out his true identity. The same eyes bleeding out underneath her, that stared up at her saying  _ “I win.” _

She was panicking. Chocked full of anxiety and bad memories.  _ Stop. Breath _ . If everything goes right, they would never be those eyes. She laughed to herself earning a puzzled glare from her friend.  _ Just another Tuesday. _

“I’m fine Koschei. Just...ah, had a bit of the wind knocked out of me.” She gives her best smile, and stands up to brush the dirt off her. She needs a plan. Not one of her in-the-heat-of-the-moment plans. A true thought out plan. For once not something entirely reckless. 

Like knocking Rassilon over the head with his stupid head piece.

However much she wants to do that, she can’t. Least not yet. Koschei and her walk with each other back to the blasted academy. She truly doesn’t want to make small talk, all things considered. She had always been a chatterbox, so staying quiet would be suspicious. Saying  _ anything _ would be suspicious too. Her personality wasn’t the same. Koschei would know. 

So she rattles about Earth of all things. Keeping her mouth on autopilot, making sure to leave personal memories out. It was almost like acting, playing the character of Theta. Sadly, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

In her head it was different. The Doctor was having a dilemma. She could  _ tell  _ him, Koschei everything. She could also not tell him  _ anything,  _ and play it cool. That was majorly harder to do. She could also just tell him a few things. However, he knew her well. Extremely well. He would know she was leaving things out. He would pry it out of her one way or the other.

  
  


He was, after all, very hypnotic. 

She visibly sighed and rubbed her temples. All this was giving her a headache, in fact it was a miracle she hadn't curled up into a ball and cried. The Doctor was doing her very best not to think about the fact that everything she had ever done, was  _ reset _ . All the people she would never meet, and all the lives she would never change. It was probably for the better, they could live out their human lives normally.

Adric wouldn’t crash that ship.

Zoe’s memories wouldn’t be damaged.

Rose would never get stuck in a parallel universe.

Martha and her family would never be tortured. 

Clara won’t have to face the raven.

Bill would never be converted into a cyberman.

Grace won’t die and Ryan would still have a grandmother.

She hurt these people, more than she would like to admit. Death and destruction tend to follow her, and simply  _ being  _ around them got them swept up. As much as she loved Earth, she was going to try avoiding it for a while.

Oh, and there’s the whole Timeless Child thing. Another problem of her’s to be pushed aside. Perhaps she was in shock. The fact her whole  _ life _ was a lie. Her very existence, a convenient plot. The time lords  _ used  _ her and then discarded her like yesterday’s waste. They used the  _ both _ of them. She would like to think she can have a little revenge. However, she can question her existence another time.

  
Suddenly there was a small flick on her forehead. “What in Omega’s name is wrong with you?” Koschei was suspicious. She rubbed the spot, pouting.  _ I really need to stop monologuing _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!!! This was mostly to get her side of things. I might make a POV of Koschei. Tell me if that’s a good idea. There will be more dialogue next time.
> 
> Anyway, thank you lovelies for reading and have a wonderful day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares, Classes, and new...old? friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEWWWWWWWWWOOOOOO!!
> 
> I live. So sorry. I was gone. Tired. But Ok now. 
> 
> Thanks so much for the support. I really needed it.
> 
> <3

_ They were on Earth and The Master was Prime Minister of Great Britain. _

_ He had taken over Earth. But that didn’t really matter. It did but it didn’t. Huh, wasn’t that confusing.  _

_ It only mattered was that he was alive and breathing. That both his hearts were beating.  _

_ They were standing on a hill. _

_ And the scene changed. _

_ She was cradling the Master. Shot. Dead. She was so tempted. Grab the gun and point it back at her. It would have been hollow, so, so hollow, as hollow as Lucy herself.  _

_ Martha would have been upset. Jack too. They wouldn’t understand, they rarely did. The pain of being alone for so long.  _

“-eta?”

_ Suddenly he wasn’t looking at Martha but Clara. Clara who had lost everything because of him. Who still chose to stick with him despite getting her killed for her foolishness. Now it was Bill. Bill’s pained face, hurt eyes, stuck in a cyberman because she still couldn’t let go of her first friend.  _

_ “Doctor, I let you go.” _

_ Remember the first rule? The Doctor lies. She still can’t let go. _

“Mr. Lungbarrow!”

_ If she could let go she wouldn’t be here. _

The Doctor blinked hazily. She looked up and there was the teacher staring down at him like she was the bane of his existence. That, actually, was probably true. Despite not remembering his name, she did remember she wasn't exactly well liked. Koschei was watching her with creased eyebrows and the iconic side-of-hand-to-mouth whispering gesture.

She had fallen asleep in his ever dull classroom during his even more dull lessons. He’s sneering down at her, as if she’s trash that doesn’t deserve to be in this academy. It’s not like she wants to be here either. She rubbed her eyes furiously and glared at him, with the age of someone who's almost as old as the Universe. Obviously, he would never know that, but in a sense it made her happy to know he was ridiculing someone who knew possibly most of the Universe's secrets and has the honor of being one. 

“Yes sir?” She replied coolly. If the teacher’s glare could be any more cold it would probably start the next Earth Ice Age. “That’s professor to you, Lungbarrow.” he said stiffly. “Since you obviously don’t need to pay attention, you can show your skills to the class.” Theta Sigma,, no, The Doctor glared at him, with all the weight of the oncoming storm.

And he had the audacity to flinch.

She made a show of loudly pushing her chair back and stomping to the front. They were currently in the Gallifreyan equivalent of biology class. There was a diagram of a flutterwing on the board, the question was simple. How long were their wings, but guessing by the professor’s smug face, he guessed she didn’t know the answer.

She really never paid attention to flutterwings, at least as a child. She decided to study more in depth when one somehow migrated from Gallifrey and she found it eating another planet’s moon. Why study that particular creature, who knew. She thinks she kept one in her butterfly room in her eighth incarnation. Not that it mattered.

Anyway, she did know the answer. Only she didn't know if she should write the correct answer. She of course didn’t want to make a fool of herself, at the same time, it would be odd if she knew the answer of a topic she was never interested in. 

Rassilon, was she thankful the room for class was so long. 

She needed to know what the hell she was doing. She could play to fool. She could play genius. 

She was really thinking too deeply into this, _just write the damned answer on the board._

She drew the numbers on the board, turning on her heel, she smiled smugly at the class. “Flutterwings’ wings can measure up to 250 yds. The biggest one ever recorded was a Silverband measuring up to 346 yds.” 

The professor was smiling but she could tell it was through gritted teeth.

“Lovely Mr. Lungbarrow. Please return to your seat.”

Real past Theta would have shyly looked away and shuffled back to her seat. This Theta has looked into the face of death and said “Nah.” This Theta had been betrayed and beaten within an inch of her life. This Theta had turned the Universe into her own playground. She was The Doctor.

So she grinned and cheekily gave a flirty wink at the professor. Even after sitting down, she blew a kiss in Koschei’s direction.

He flushed a brilliant scarlet.

The Doctor slept for the rest of the class.

“I didn’t know you had the guts Thete!” Koschei seemed thrilled by her little show, that glimmer of insanity sparking ever more so. “Did you see the professor’s face, he was gaping like a Hath!”

She can’t help but laugh along with her friend. At the same time, looking at him reminds her of her dream. That’s a can of peaches she doesn’t quite feel like opening yet. “The answer was simple.”

Koschei’s eyes were still sparkling but not without suspicion. “I thought you didn’t care much about creature biology.”

She chuckled nervously. “I don’t. I just remembered it. Lucky me.”

Her excuse worked and the suspicion was gone. She hopes. She didn’t care about what the teacher would have thought or her other classmates but Koschei would always know. It was a curse and a blessing to have such a friend.

Speaking of friends…

“Hey Kosch! There’s a thing, I found, its um, interesting. It's really intresing. We should really go take a look at it.”

Her friend turned around only to raise an eyebrow. “Now?”

The Doctor played with the hem of her robe. “Yeah um, I mean, if you’re up to it.”

Eyes shimmering with mischief, he gave a wide smile. “Ok.”

So, holding hands as they ran across the fields, the Doctor couldn’t help feel a little nostalgic.

When they were just Theta and Koschei.

But Theta was gone and something unidentifiable returned in his place.

They made it to the TARDIS patch, where they were grown and kept. Koschei looked in slight awe of the newer models. Theta continued to the back.

There she was.

Her wonderful beautiful ghost monument.

Her TARDIS.

Glowing and pulsing despite her run down look. Theta touched her side and immediately she could feel her. The nudge in the back of her mind saying,  _ I missed you. _ The comforting song and presence that always helped during the worst of days. When she was alone and horribly lost she was always there to pick her back up. To remind her who she was and what she did. Her brilliant blue box that wasn’t quite blue or a box yet. Everywhere in the universe they’ve been, so many people she met, she saved, she lost.

“Hello Sexy.”

**Author's Note:**

> If I did a grammar mistake then please tell me.
> 
> Comments motivate me. Thanks for reading!!


End file.
